Formation of district power panels in Odisha by June-end

Acting on the directive of the Union Power ministry to form district electricity committees (DECs) to monitor the quality and progress of work done under various Central schemes in the power sector, including the recently approved Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) and Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS), the Odisha government has decided to initiate the process at the earliest.

State Energy minister Pranab Prakash Das has asked all the district collectors to form the committee by the end of this month.

The committee will be headed by the senior-most MP of the district with the district collector and another MP will be the convener and deputy director of the committee respectively. Local MPs, MLAs and Legislative Council members and other government public sector undertaking officials will be members of the committee.

In a recent letter to the state Energy department, joint secretary, Ministry of Power, BN Sharma said the committee will meet at least once every three months at the district headquarters and shall be consulted in the preparation of the detailed project report (DPR) under DDUGJY and IPDS.

The committee will be responsible for monitoring the government schemes and reviewing power supply, consumer satisfaction and promoting energy efficiency and energy conservation in the localities, said the letter.

It may be mentioned that the Centre had launched IPDS project in December last year to enhance the electricity network in urban areas and strengthen sub-transmission and distribution system, including metering of distribution transformers, provisioning solar panels, feeders and consumers in urban areas.

The DDUGJY, which was in operation earlier, focuses on strengthening rural electrification.